Name This Weed

PasturesNew

This weed's in my garden. It's a creeper... it spreads quite quickly but the roots are horizontal, more than vertical, so it pulls out really easily.

But what is it?

http://tinypic.com/r/28mguiu/9

Davesnave

It's a wild geranium, maybe geranium lucidum.

http://www.first-nature.com/flowers/geranium-lucidum.php


Like its relative, Herb robert, it will be fairly easy to control.

PasturesNew

Davesnave wrote: »

It's a wild geranium, maybe geranium lucidum.

http://www.first-nature.com/flowers/geranium-lucidum.php


Like its relative, Herb robert, it will be fairly easy to control.

Cheers. That's the beastie.

I am planning on clearing that spot entirely - that stuff creeps into nooks and crannies where you don't want it, so it all has to go really.

It gives good/fast and even green coverage, but it doesn't know when to stop

At least I now know it's not nasty, or evil, etc.

Davesnave

PasturesNew wrote: »

At least I now know it's not nasty, or evil, etc.

No, that's mare's tail, convulvulus and ground elder, with American willow herb, hairy bittercress and annual meadow grass waiting in the wings as understudies.:)

Elsewhere

When I was a child butterbur used to be a pest in our garden, but I haven't seen it anywhere for years!

dogstarheaven

Davesnave I wonder whether this plant turns red in sheltered sunny spots as I picked some up two weeks ago to propagate as I was quite taken by it's amazing colour? If it's a spreader, I'm glad it's in a pot.

Davesnave

dogstarheaven wrote: »

Davesnave I wonder whether this plant turns red in sheltered sunny spots as I picked some up two weeks ago to propagate as I was quite taken by it's amazing colour? If it's a spreader, I'm glad it's in a pot.

There are quite a few similar geraniums with reddish stems, some more weedy and flabby than others.

I have one, namely 'Bill Wallis,' but it is reasonably dainty.It seeds around a bit, but doesn't ever become a nuisance.

dogstarheaven

The leaves were red mostly and I think it was very happy growing in the cracks of a wall and being in a sheltered hotspot. So this gives me a clue that it wouldn't mind a bit of drought and grown with little soil. Do you think I could transfer the propagated cuttings to my wall?

Davesnave

dogstarheaven wrote: »

The leaves were red mostly and I think it was very happy growing in the cracks of a wall and being in a sheltered hotspot. So this gives me a clue that it wouldn't mind a bit of drought and grown with little soil. Do you think I could transfer the propagated cuttings to my wall?

You won't know until you try, but things in walls often only grow well when they get into those cracks themselves.

REEN

I liked the look of Bill so I looked it up and found this:
http://www.barlownurseries.co.uk/blog/2012/05/geranium-pyrenaicum-bill-wallis-a-health-warning/ Apparently he's not always so well behaved!

Rozanne is my favourite hardy geranium.

I have some double-and dark-leaved forms of celandines which spread like the wild one, but they are very pretty and die back before the rest of the plants get going.

Davesnave

Well, if anything's a thug, it's Rozanne! I use that where I need cast-iron domination.

As for Bill, he's never been a menace for me, and I've had him on two very different soils now.

If you want a really lovely, bombproof thug, Saponaria 'Betty Arnold' takes a bit of beating. I do sell that with a health warning!